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I, Mudd (episode)
Harry Mudd, now ruler of a planet of androids, captures the Enterprise. Summary Spock and McCoy are walking through the corridors of the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]], where they encounter Crewman Norman. McCoy mentions that Norman is odd and unemotional; for some reason, Spock hasn't noticed. Norman makes his way into auxiliary control, where he knocks out the crewman on duty,and activates the override. On the bridge Sulu reports a course change whereupon Captain Kirk sends security to auxiliary control, but to no avail. Sulu tries to override the course change, but that is about equally useful. Norman then breaks into Emergency Manual Monitor and Engineering, knocks out much of the engineering crew, and jams the controls. Norman gets to the bridge and announces he is in control - any attempt to alter course will destroy the ship. He then opens up a panel in his stomach, which contains some circuitry. On the bridge, it is revealed that Norman is an android. He announces that he's locked the controls and that they will arrive at their destination in four days. He then promptly shuts down in front of the turbolift, impeding the crew in their efforts to enter and exit the bridge. Four days later, the Enterprise enters orbit around an uncharted planet. Norman wakes up and announces that Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura and Chekov must beam down, or he will destroy the engines. The planet is Class K, which means that it can be adapted for life with the help of a large amount of machinery. They are ushered into the presence of Harry Mudd, who declares that he is the Emperor of the planet, Mudd the First. He declares that Kirk must stay for the rest of his life. Mudd is surrounded by androids - a slew of beauties - 500 in the Alice class alone. He implies that these androids can provide for him anything he wants. Mudd goes on to explain his presence on the planet; we learn that he had been sent to prison by Kirk and company after his last appearence (Mudd's Women). After his inevitable escape, he had been employing himself by illegally reselling patents. Of course, he was caught and sentenced to death (in the 23rd century, the DMCA is in full force); fortunately, he was able to steal a ship and get away. After drifting aimlessly for a while, he found himself on his planet. The problem is, of course, that he has gotten bored, and the androids won't let him go. Kirk and his crewmates are there because he told the androids to go and get a starship, so the crew could stay and he could leave. He then demonstrates an android replica of his shrewish wife Stella; he amuses himself by telling her to shut up whenever he likes. The androids bring them a recreation area, where they reveal that they were made by a humanoid race from the Andromeda Galaxy (presumably not the Kelvan Empire). Their home planet's sun went nova, the humanoids all died out over time, and the androids were all that is left. Kirk boots the androids out of the room, after which Spock suggests looking for the central control, because all incredibly sophisticated technologies have a single point of failure. Spock finds the central control. Norman is there, stroking a glowing rod with both hands. However, Norman will not tell Spock much about this; he is "not programmed to respond in this area". Kirk, Uhura and Chekov are being shown the Maisie, Trudy and Annabelle series of robots. Uhura asks how long they last; the answer comes back - 500,000 yrs. Plus, they can put a human brain in the android. Uhura seems to respond well to this idea. Back in the recreation room, Scott joins the crew - he is the last of the crew to be brought down. Androids are now running the ship. Because the androids can provide whatever the crew wants, Kirk is worried his crew will be tempted. Chekov, for example, is being serviced by two Alice androids, and seems to be enjoying it a great deal - they are all "fully functional". Scott, on the other hand, is quite interested in their engineering facilities. Kirk and his crewmates are planning to escape - Uhura and Chekov seem to be enjoying it there, but Kirk snaps them out of it. An Alice comes in and promises anything to make them happy, and Kirk says he can't be happy without their ship. Alice doesn't respond to this very well; she asks Norman (who is not present) to coordinate, and promptly leaves. Mudd is saying goodbye to the androids when Kirk comes in to have a chat with him. To no one's surprise but Mudd's, the androids won't let him leave. The androids think humanity is a galactic pest, so they reveal their master plan: serve them until humanity are all fat and lazy, and just want to stay at home and watch television (in effect). Spock figures out that Norman coordinates the androids, for two reasons: first, there is only one Norman, but many of the others, and second, when Alice was confused earlier, she asked Norman to coordinate. They decide to target Norman with insane logic in an attempt to overload the central control. They decide to provide an escape attempt, because the androids will be expecting one. They knock Harry out - over his vehement protests - and then tell the androids he will die without a trip to the Enterprise for treatment. Uhura then pretends to betray the crew for the immortality deal. At this point, the crew puts their real plan into action. They engage in a surreal pantomime for two of the Alice androids in order to confuse them. They freeze up, as it was typical for computers in the 23rd century to fail when confronted with bad input. Elsewhere, Spock tries to nerve pinch another Alice, but it has no effect. He then causes two other Alice androids to freeze up by telling one he loves her, but the other he hates her. The androids can't deal with this, as they are identical -- it is illogical to love one and not the other. When this seems to work, they decide to take down Norman. After a series of over the top speeches, android imitations and pantomimed deaths and explosions, a recitation of the liar's paradox ("Everything I say is a lie. I am lying" Am I a liar or not?) finally destroys Norman. In order to punish Mudd, they make him stay on the planet. He is quite happy with his sentence - the androids can provide him with as much of whatever he wants as he likes - until he learns that he has to share the planet with at least 500 copies of his wife. Background Information * Imaginative use of twins and split screens give the illusion of a planet of thousands of androids in this episode. * A Class K planet is adaptable for human colonization by use of pressure domes. * The piece of equipment against the back wall of Norman's lab will show up later in the corridors of the Enterprise. Several other pieces of hardware, including the "nanopulse laser" will show up as bits of high-tech devices later. * In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, we learn that Chekov was aboard when Space Seed's events took place. His question to Kirk, "You know this man, Captain?" tells us he was definitely not aboard when Harry Mudd made his first appearance. * This would be George Takei's last appearance in the series until "Return to Tomorrow". * Shatner had put on quite a bit of weight by the filming of this episode. Just as some of the production team were about to put unflattering profile photos in his mail, he increased his workout schedule and began to trim down. * David Gerrold did an uncredited rewrite of this episode. * "I, Mudd" features one of the few hand-held camera shots in the series, as the crew dances to the imaginary music. One of the blooper reels offers a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of this sequence. Memorable Quotes "Worse than that; do you know what the penalty for fraud is on Deneb V?" "The guilty party has his choice; death by electrocution, death by gas, death by hanging, death by phaser--" "Mr. Spock, the key word in your entire recitation is... d-death. Barbarians!" -- Mudd and Spock "What could I do? I... left." "He broke jail." "I borrowed transportation--''" "He stole a spaceship." "''The patrol acted in a most hostile manner--''" "They fired upon him." "''They've got no respect for private property-- they damaged the bloody spaceship!" -- Mudd, explaining his departure from Dimarus... with Kirk translating "Behind every great man, there is a woman urging him on. And, so it was with my Stella. She urged me on into outer space-- not that she meant to, actually, but with her confounded, continual, eternal nagging-- (recovers)I think of her constantly; and every time I do, I go further out into space." : - Harry Mudd "That's very interesting-- you leave your wife, but then bring her along." -- McCoy "Logic is a twittering little bird, chirping in a meadow. Logic is wreath of pretty flowers that smell ''bad. Are you sure your circuits are registering correctly? Your ears are green!" : - Spock Links and References Main cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * James Doohan as Scott * George Takei as Sulu * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * Walter Koenig as Chekov Guest Stars *Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd *Richard Tatro as Norman *Alyce Andrece as the Alice series (#1 through #250) *Rhae Andrece as the Alice series (#251 through #500) *Kay Elliot as Stella Mudd *Michael Zaslow as Jordan *Mike Howden as Rowe *Colleen and Maureen Thornton as Barbara series *Tamara and Starr Wilson as the Maizie series *Tom and Ted Legarde as the Herman series *Roger Holloway as Roger Lemli *Bobby Bass as Engineer *Bob Orrison as Engineer *Loren Janes as Richard Tatro's stunt double References Annabelle series; beryllium; Class K; Oscar series; titanium; Trudy series Category:TOS episodes de:Der dressierte Herrscher nl:I, Mudd